Collection of one percent tax on transfer of immovable property in the province through Tehsil Municipal Administration (TMA) staff instead of contractors has given positive results. The Punjab Local Government Department has managed to collect 30 percent more amount of taxes during first nine months of the current financial year, as compared to the same period of the last financial year, disclosed Punjab Local Government Secretary Khizar Hayyat Gondal, while presiding over a departmental meeting here on Tuesday.
He said 48 TMAs have not submitted their details yet and the amount may increase after receiving the details from the remaining TMAs. According to him, contractors used to collect the tax earlier but the CM received a number of complaints regarding the corruption and misappropriation of the contractors. A number of contractors were involved in over-charging. They used to collect tax on market value of the property instead of official value but deposited the amount to the government treasury as per official value and thus were usurping the remaining amount. Hence, the CM directed the TMAs to collect the tax directly with effect from current financial year in order to rescue the public from the plunder and monopoly of contractors.
"The TMAs, due to affective monitoring and sustained efforts, have collected Rs 2097.0 million during nine months of the current financial year, while contractors had collected Rs 1616.9 during the same period of the last financial year. In other words, the local government department has collected Rs 481 million more, as compared to the same period of the last year and the increase in tax collection is 30 percent," he added.